Schumacher and Webber receive penalties

Both Michael Schumacher and Mark Webber received post-race penalties following the Singapore Grand Prix on Sunday.

Mercedes driver Michael Schumacher retired from the race shortly after the first safety car session, when he ploughed into the back of Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne.

The seven-time Formula One World Champion locked up both front wheels in a bid to avoid the collision, but he failed to significantly reduce his speed and he crashed head on into Vergne.

The German admitted he was at fault for the collision as he failed to to anticipate the lower tyre grip following the safety car period.

The Singapore race stewards handed Schumacher a 10-place grid penalty for Japan as it was ‘the second similar offence by the driver this season.’

Meanwhile Red Bull’s Mark Webber was given a post-race drive through penalty for unfairly gaining an advantage by leaving the track.

That 20 second time penalty meant that Webber lost tenth place and a world championship point to Sauber’s Sergio Perez.

The incident ironically came when Webber was battling Perez’s Sauber Kamui Kobayashi, the race stewards decided the Australian gained an advantage during this tussle by leaving the track and gave the penalty accordingly.

Red Bull team-mate and double World Champion Sebastian Vettel avoided a penalty for the incident which happened behind the safety car. Jenson Button very nearly crashed into the German after he unexpectedly braked hard after previously accelerating hard approaching the re-start, but the race stewards opted against giving the race winner any form of penalty which could have resulted in McLaren’s Jenson Button inheriting the race win.